April 4 – 17, 2016
Mt. Washington — This evening, and every evening during the first two weeks of April, planet Jupiter glistens halfway to zenith in the east-southeast at twilight. The brightest star-like object in the sky, Jupiter climbs higher and westward through the night in the company of Leo the Lion. Leo’s large head leads the iconic spring constellation into the sky. Leo’s head end looks like an arch with a stem, or a backward question mark. To the left of the head, the haunches of the sunny king of the beasts are represented by a triangle. Jupiter is located to the right of the triangle.
To the left of Leo, see the Big Dipper standing above the east-northeast horizon at nightfall. Follow its arcing handle down to twinkling, orange Arcturus (“arc to Arcturus”) the second brightest true star in northern skies. Arcturus, also known as a herald of spring, is diagonally below Jupiter.
Don’t miss Jupiter close to the gibbous (larger than half) moon on the 17th.
As spring stars and constellations rise in the east and travel the heavens all night, winter’s dazzling stars and constellations are poised to set in the west before midnight. Bid farewell to Sirius the Dog Star, the brightest star in Earth’s sky, among the other bright lights of the Winter Circle around Orion the Hunter, all to the right, west, of Jupiter.
Elusive planet Mercury makes its best appearance of the year in evening twilight from the 8th through the 20th. Arrive at your favorite lookout to the west-northwest – with visibility closest to the horizon in your locale – about 40 minutes after sunset. On April 8, sunset is at 7:27; on April 20, sunset is at 7:41. Make a special date for Friday the 8th at 8:15, when a delicate crescent moon appears to the left of Mercury. It’s a brief show that night: moonset is 9:07 p.m.; Mercury sets at 8:52 p.m. At my location, Mercury will probably disappear behind the hills at 8:30.
America’s foremost astronomy immersion of the year, the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) takes place rather nearby in Suffern, N.Y., on Saturday and Sunday, April 9 and 10. Saturday’s early afternoon speakers include planetary scientist Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of the New Horizons Mission to Pluto, and Alden and Annette Tombaugh, the children of Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto’s discoverer. Saturday’s program concludes with a much anticipated address, “The 2017 Eclipse,” by the world authority on eclipses, NASA’s Fred Espenek. Sunday’s presenters are equally compelling. Among them are Marcia Bartusiak, author of Black Hole and Day We Found the Universe and Alice Bowman, Mission Operations Manager, New Horizons Mission to Pluto. See details at https://theberkshireedge.com/eyes-sky-neaf-astronomy-enthusiasts-oasis/ and https://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf.html
Resources:
Call for participants to report visibility of Leo the Lion: Globe at Night April 4 – 8: https://www.globeatnight.org/
Global Astronomy Month, April 2016: https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2016-programs/program-schedule-2016.html
Eyes to the Sky: The globe at night, one stargazer at a time, in the March 7 Berkshire Edge.
NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) https://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf.html
